All he wants to give her
by UK-824
Summary: He never understood what his father meant when he first got that particular piece of advice. That is, until, he did. Now he's taking it a bit further. No one ever said Souma Yukihira did things the easy way. Three times in his life that Souma realized what exactly wanted to give to Erina Nakiri.


Chapter 1- Food

He's 16 when he first figures it out.

It's the culmination of Asahi's plan. His continuous notions to make Erina his, to woo her, to annoy Souma (Souma will swear on his life that's what his 'big brother' wants) are finally at a head. In a slight change to Asahi's plan, Erina is not competing in the shokugeki. Instead, now, at the final bout of BLUE, Erina is the singular judge to the competition between Asahi and Souma. The winner will earn the right to try and court Erina, while the loser will sever all contact and never speak to her again.

Fighting in the stage of the final bout of the Regiment de cuisine where they toppled the Azami administration, Asahi and Souma had just begun their cooking. It was just the three of them in the stadium, all of them agreeing that the situation would stay between them. The theme: something that will please Erina. Stove's hot and ingredients laid out, the two began their duel.

Erina had been adamantly against this. Souma's ears were still ringing from her yelling at him.

"_You can't be serious, Yukihira-kun! He's beaten you at every corner, what's to say he wont again?"_ he could still remember her saying.

"_You don't think I can win, Nakiri?"_ _Souma shot back, a slight edge to his trademark grin._

"_Did you not hear what the terms were? If you lose…" Erina trailed off._

"_Did you forget already?" Souma joked. It was then that Erina hit him. And kept hitting him._

"_Don't! You! Joke! About! This! If you lose, I'll never see you again! Do you understand? Never! Again! I can't have that, I refuse!" Erina yelled with blow after blow. Souma finally just engulfed her in a bear hug in an attempt to calm her down. And for her to stop hitting him. He was surprised when he heard her sniffling._

"_Nakiri…"_

"_You mean too much to me for you to just leave…" Erina said, in the smallest voice Souma had ever heard._

"_Why… why are you telling me this? Why now? We've been in tight spots before…" Souma asked._

"_Not like this! Not when you'd leave…"_

"_You would've left if Azami won. How is this different?"_

"_Because we were together! Because we were fighting together! Now… now you have to fight alone, and-and I can't be there, and I hate that! I hate that I can't help you!" Erina screamed into his chest, wetting his shirt with her tears._

"_Erina…" Souma whispered. Erina sobbed some more before finally looking up at him, eyes red, nose puffy, and cheeks tear stained._

"_And I'm scared, Souma. His skills are real, terrifyingly real, and they may very well surpass your father. If you…if he wins… and I have to make that decision. And I can't be biased…" she admitted._

"_I wouldn't want you to. Hey, look at me." Souma asked, holding her face, pulling it towards his own._

"_I promise you, I'm going to win. I'm not giving you up without a fight, Erina." Souma promised._

"_You swear?" Erina asked._

"_On my life." Souma answered. This seemed to calm her down just a bit. She wiped her tears with her sleeve and took a breath._

"_If you lose, I won't forgive you." Erina said. Souma smiled._

"_I won't."_

That was a week ago, but Souma remembered like it just happened. The image of her crying was burned into his memory, and it was over him. He didn't think he'd ever forgive himself for that. It had been 45 minutes since the shokugeki began so he had little more than an hour left of their 2 hours. Souma had been slaving away on his dish, a plate of lamb shanks, braised in rosemary, garlic, tomato, and red wine. All that's left was for him to finish the risotto and other sides. He allowed himself a moment to breath and spared a glance at Erina. She was doing her level best not to look at him, trying even harder not to look at Asahi. This got him curious and made him look as well and what he saw made him furious.

The bastard was whistling. He was fiddling around with his food, using his pan and tossing the contents in and out of it. He caught Souma looking at him and waved.

"Hey, little bro. Curious to see what I'm making? Don't worry, I'll save you some."

"Don't call me that! And I'm not curious about anything!" Souma shot back, making Asahi laugh.

"A little tense there, aren't we? I guess it's understandable. If I was never going to see that beauty over there again, I'd be annoyed too." Asahi said. Souma glanced back at Erina and saw that she was looking at them now.

"Ah, princess. Don't worry, I'll make sure this is the most delicious thing that ever graces your divine tongue." Asahi said, winking at her. She just scowled and looked away. This just served to annoy Souma even more.

'_This is just my luck.'_ Souma thought to himself. _'Just as things are starting to go well with Erina, just as it looks like we might have a decent relationship, some asshole shows up outta nowhere, claiming to be my fucking brother of all things, and tries to make her his?_' Souma thought as he started with his risotto.

'_Mouthing off shit like Erina is his because 'only the god tongue is worthy to receive his cooking'. Arrogant dick. He doesn't want Erina, he just wants her for her tongue, which is just stupid cause she's way more than that. __**I**__ want her for everything. I want her for the way she gets all fired up when she cooks. I want her for the way her eyes light up when we play cards. I want her for the way she laughs at my jokes. I want her for the way she looks out for her friends. I want her-!'_ Souma cut himself off, going over his thoughts again.

'_I want her…'_ he thought to himself. _'I want her… I want her… I want her…'_ the words growing louder in his head every time he'd repeat them. _'I want her… I want… Erina… __**I want Erina!**_' Souma dropped the lid to his pot as he came to his stunning realization, causing the others to look at him. Asahi just spared him a passing glance and went back to cooking. Erina, on the other hand, looked at him for the first time since this competition began, worry clear in her eyes.

"Souma?" she asked aloud.

God, he loved the way she said his name. It was like music to his ears. He looked at her, really looked at her, and he wanted to smack himself. How had he never noticed before? Sure, objectively, Souma knew she was attractive, that wasn't a secret to anyone. But now? Now she was the most stunning vision he'd ever seen.

He took in every detail of her, saw how she wore pink nail polish today, how she was wearing a bracelet Megumi got her. He saw, for the first time that her hair wasn't just blonde, that there was the slightest hint of a red tint to it, almost like cherries. Souma loved cherries. He followed her hair all the way to those two little side bangs that he loved to mess around with sometimes when they were together. He saw how they pointed right to her lips. He hoped those tasted like cherries and he desperately wanted to find out. Finally, he saw her eyes. Those deep, amethyst orbs that were now looking right at his gold ones. He felt like he was drowning in them. And he was completely ok with that. A smile tugged on his lips and he made no effort to reign it in. In fact, he let it grow until it became a full on burst of laughter. He had to hang on to the counter to keep himself from falling over.

"Souma!" Erina called out, clearly worried for the boy. Souma's head shot straight up at her voice and he tried to steady himself.

"Don't worry, Erina. I'm fine. I just… I just realized why I'm doing this. I'll get started now." Souma said, fixing up his station.

"Get started? You have an hour left, what do you mean get started?! What about the dish you're making now!?" Erina asked, clearly confused by his statement.

"Hm? Oh yeah! I'll save this for later, bring it back to the dorm and finish it there. It's just not what I need to make right now." Souma explained.

"Are you ok there, Yukihira? Because it sounded like you're changing what you're making halfway through a shokugeki." Asahi asked.

"I'm fine. Actually, I'm great! And that's exactly what I'm doing. Don't worry, I'll save you some, big bro." Souma said, mirroring Asahi's favourite way of teasing him.

"You know, you don't have to pretend in front of me. Not to toot my own horn, but I'm a damn good chef. Losing to me isn't something to be ashamed of." Asahi said.

"I'm sure it isn't. But I'm not doing this for you, at least not anymore. And also, there's no way in hell I'm losing this." Souma said, grinning. He finished putting away his previous dish and began cracking several eggs.

"Yukihira-kun?" Erina couldn't help but ask, almost worried about his sudden change in demeanor. Souma's head quickly snapped up to look at her.

"Yeah, Erina?" he asked. The casual use of her first name surprised her, but she pressed on.

"What are you doing? Starting a new dish from scratch this late in the shokugeki?"

"Do you trust me?" Souma asked.

"W-what?"

"Erina, do you trust me?" Souma asked again. The way he was looking at her unnerved her. It was so intense, like he was looking right through her, but at the same time, it was so open that she could see right through him as well. She nodded, and Souma smiled.

"As adorable as this is little exchange is, I feel like I should remind you that she must be completely unbiased." Asahi said.

"Don't worry, she will be. But you sure you should be focusing on this? You don't have much time left." Souma said. Asahi sneered but didn't say anything more, instead focusing on his cooking. Not long after, 2 hours had passed. Both chefs had finished their respective dishes and were in front of Erina, ready to be judged.

"You wanna go first, big bro?" Souma asked.

"If you don't mind, little brother." Asahi said, humoring Souma by playing along. Asahi walked forward and gave a little bow before taking the lid off his dish.

"Allow me to present my dish, Tournedos Rossini. Only the best for you, princess." Asahi said. Erina looked at the dish and visibly gulped. The dish was truly one of the most spectacular ones she'd seen in her entire career. She could tell at a glance that the two filet-mingnon's were cooked to perfection, the croute and foie gras expertly grilled and it was all delicately coated in a Madeira sauce. She cut off a piece, almost surprised at how easy the knife cut through the steak and ate it. Immediately she was overcome by the flavour. She had to grab on to the table to prevent her from falling out of the chair, but it did nothing to stop the moan that left her mouth.

"Oh, I do love to hear that sound." Asahi said. "And I must say, I'm deeply impressed with you, princess. To taste a dish of this quality and able to reign in the famed Nakiri 'bursting', just shows your strength."

Erina could barely respond, each bite she took only added a more intense foodgasm. By the time she finished the dish, she couldn't sit up at all.

"Damn, big bro." Souma whistled. Asahi chuckled nervously.

"Yeah, I may have over done it…"

"Think we should giver her a bit to recover?" Souma asked.

"That seems like a good idea." Asahi agreed.

"N-no…" Erina whimpered, clearly wanting to continue. Souma knelt down and held her hand.

"Hey, it's ok. Take a few minutes and rest." Souma said.

"B-but your dish…" Erina trailed off.

"Will be fine. It's in a heated container so it'll be nice and hot for you." Souma said, rubbing his thumb against her hand. Eventually, she nodded.

"Hey, Asahi, mind getting her some water?" Souma asked, still rubbing small circles in Erina's hand.

"Actually, I'd like to stay and look after the princess."

"That's nice, but I got it." Souma said, still not looking at him. Asahi scowled and got the water. After a few minutes, Erina was sitting up again, ready for the next dish.

"You sure you're ok, Erina?" Souma asked, still holding her hand.

"Yeah, I just… I want to get this over with." Erina said, giving his hand a small squeeze. Souma nodded and brought his dish forward.

"May I present, straight from Souma's secret menu, Nikogori Omurice- Souma Style!"

"Don't you mean 'Yukihira's secret menu'?" Asahi asked, familiar with Jouichirou's menu.

"Nope, this one is completely my own." Souma said, grinning. Taking off the lid, he revealed an omelette with a demi-glaze sauce lightly drizzled over it. Erina took a breath before digging in but Souma stopped her before she could.

"Sorry, but you know me, Erina. My dishes have a tendency… to transform!" Souma said, taking a knife and cutting down the middle of the omelette, splitting it open. The burst of steam that erupted from the omelette splitting open temporarily blinded Erina. When the steam cleared, she saw a mound of rice as white as snow sitting in the omelette. In the rice were cuts of chicken and vegetables. The smell of it alone brought a small smile to her face and set her heart at ease.

"Are you sure your dish is done transforming, Souma?" Erina asked, knowing the answer. Souma's grin grew even wider.

"You know me so well, Erina." Souma said, taking out a small container, opened it, and poured the contents over the dish. Small, cubed bits danced on the dish before the steam and heat of the dish caused them to melt, dyeing the rice orange.

"Dig in." Souma said. Erina nodded and took a bite. Asahi almost expected Erina to break down like she did with his dish, given how calm Souma was. But all Erina did was smile, laugh, and lean back into her chair.

"Well?" Souma asked.

"Well done, Souma-kun, it's d-." Erina said, the warmest smile Souma had ever seen on her face.

"Not yet. I'll get you to say that one day, one day soon, but I'll get that when the time is right." Souma interrupted.

"You can't do that if you lose, though." Asahi cut in.

"Hm? Oh, right, the shokugeki. Who won, Erina?" Souma asked.

"The winner… is Souma Yukihira!" Erina announced.

"What!" Asahi exclaimed.

"There you go, big bro. But hey, let's forget about the whole 'never making contact with Erina' thing."

"Oh, shut up, Yukihira. Princess, whatever you have going on with him, I have to remind you that you can't be biased." Asahi said.

"I'm well aware, and I was, Asahi-san." Erina answered.

"Then how could I lose?!" Asahi asked.

"Why don't you try some for yourself, bro?" Souma offered, holding the plate out. Asahi glared at him but took a bite anyway.

Warmth. That's all he felt as he ate. An almost overpowering warmth filled every part of his being and as much as he tried to fight it off, he eventually let it overtake him. The more he ate, the warmer he got until a memory made its way to the front of his mind.

'_Ahahahah, Asahi, this is really good!' The older man said._

'_You really think so, Mr. Saiba?' a young Asahi asked._

'_How many times have I told you to call me Jouichirou? The little Asahi blushed a little._

'_I can't do that, you're older than me, it's just polite.' Asahi said. Jouichirou looked at the young boy and smiled._

'_Then how about you call me dad'? Jouichirou offered. Asahi's head snapped up to look at him._

'_W-what?'_

'_It's been 4 years, now. You know I think of you as a son, Asahi.'_

'_I… I didn't want to impose…' Asahi whispered. Jouichirou brought the young boy in for a hug._

'_You never could. Asahi Saiba… got a good ring to it, don't it?' Jouichirou said to the crying boy as he rubbed his head._

Asahi was brought back to the present and found himself lying on the floor, tears on his face.

"Dammit, dad…" he whispered. Souma sat next to him.

"So… how was it?" Souma asked.

"Shut up… it was great… this is my loss, I'll never contact Erina ever again." Asahi conceded.

"Nah, I was serious about not doing that. Just, don't try and take her from me, ok?" Souma asked, rubbing the back of his head. Asahi grinned.

"Really? Just like that?" Asahi asked, knowing what Souma was thinking.

"Yeah, just like that." Souma replied, growing increasingly red in the face with every passing second, and doing his best not to steal a glance at Erina.

"You little… you figured it out, didn't you? The secret to making great food." Asahi teased. Souma blushed even more and nodded.

"Hahahah, no wonder I lost. Don't let her get away, Souma." Asahi said.

"I don't plan on it. Listen… you should come by the diner sometime. I'm sure dad would want to see you." Souma offered. Asahi stiffened.

"I'm not so sure about that…"

"Look, whatever happened with you two, I'm sure dad didn't want things to be this awkward. I know he wants to see you, you're his son, too."

"… you're serious." Asahi said.

"Of course! Listen, all I know is that if mom knew about you, she would've brought you home without a second thought. But since she's not here anymore… well, now that's my job. So come home, Asahi. You have a family waiting for you." Souma said, offering a hand. Asahi thought about the offer and took his hand.

"Alright… little brother." Asahi said, sincerely.

"Hey, that sounds a lot nicer when you're not being a jerk." Souma teased. Asahi ruffled Souma's hair in response as he got up.

"So, you know what to do now?" Asahi asked.

"I think… I'll figure it out." Souma admitted.

"Good luck. Well, guess I'm gonna visit dad."

"Give him hell." Souma said.

"Oh, you know it." Asahi said, waving as he walked off. He stopped and turned to Erina.

"Good luck with him. He's new to this so go easy. Though, I'm pretty sure you're new to this as well." Asahi teased before finally walking off.

Souma threw a pan at him but it hit the door as it closed. He turned to see Erina looking at him.

"Don't worry about him. He's just being a dick." Souma told her.

"Is everything ok?" she asked.

"Yeah, just giving my big bro a pep talk." Souma said, walking towards her.

"Big brother? That's new."

"Yeah, I'm getting used to it."

"I'm glad to hear it."

"Me too. I'm also glad to hear my food's delicious." Souma said, grinning.

"Hmph, don't start that, you stopped me before I made a huge mistake." Erina defended.

"Well, I changed my mind. I got so close, I could taste it, so I'm coming after it."

"You're welcome to try, Yukihira-kun." Erina said, ready for the usual back and forth but was surprised when it didn't come. She was even more surprised when he came over to her and took her hand.

"Wh-wh-what?"

"I will try, Erina. Every day if I have to." Souma said, seriously.

"Every day? And since when did you start using my first name?" Erina asked, blushing.

"Because it figured it out. I figured out why I was fighting Asahi in the first place, and it wasn't the right reason and I realized that halfway through." Souma explained.

"That's when you changed your dish… what did you realize?" Erina asked.

"I realized just how important you are to me, Erina. That's why I'm calling you by your first name, why I changed my dish, why I won. Erina, I… I want to give you all the food I make." Souma said, hoping she'd understand what he meant. When Erina got over her initial stupor and smiled, he knew that she did.

"All of the food you make?" she asked.

"All of it." He confirmed.

"Then what will you eat?"

"I'll figure something out. As long as I can keep cooking for you, I'll be fine." Souma said. Erina shook her head.

"I can't have you starving, Souma Yukihira. It looks like I have no choice."

"No choice?" Souma echoed.

"I suppose I'll have to give you all the food I make in return. It's only fair." Erina said. Souma was filled wish such a rush of affection that he didn't even think about his next words.

"Can I kiss you?" he blurted out. Erina went red but still managed to speak.

"You'd be stealing my first kiss if you did." She admitted. Souma smiled and moved closer when he saw Erina close her eyes.

"I'd be giving you mine in return. It's only fair."

She agreed it was fair when he said it.

They were both glad when he did it.

**(A/N. So I know I have two other SNS stories that I have to update, and I promise I'm making good headway on them. The idea of this story came to me and it wouldn't leave. Plus, I wanted to get this chapter out there before the big Souma vs Asahi fight in the manga. You'll notice I haven't included the 'superhuman ability' stuff or Mana Nakiri and it's for good reason. I wrote this before all that stuff came out, the 'superhuman ability' stuff isn't my cup of tea since it reduces Erina, and I have plans for Mana that I'll address in the next chapter. As always, leave a like and review.)**


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